Any ferret keepers out there?

[divegirl]

Good morning, asking this for a mate in Thailand!

He has a male ferret who is approx 3.5 years old that is getting weak in the hind legs... doesn't seem to have any injury just weakness.
Any ideas?

Lisa x

[josaphine32]

It could be a number of things, What diet is the Hob on?

[divegirl]

Hi, don't know if this makes sense to you but he is on a dry kitten food made by Science and ferret vite?
Being on Thailand I assume they have different rules on feeding.

Lisa x

[josaphine32]

Yeah that makes sence, (kibble) Is he eating ok, any diarrohea, lost any weight, going bold, has the owner checked to see if any lymph nodes are up in either the neck, under arm pits, back of knees,
Ferrets keep illnesses to them self until it becomes advanced,
back leg weakness is common in ferrets with beeing ill, I.e Liver, Heart, Tumour in Pancreas, Hypoglycemia,I would suggest getting him looked at at a vets that works with exotic's,
A blood test will rule out most diseases, It could just be Anemic, or low blood sugar count,

[divegirl]

Thank you.
All I know is he was at the vet a short while ago because he was not eating. The vet suspected a growth in the abdomen, no bloods were taken and they were going to x-ray but prescribed anti-b's any way and he seemed to be getting better.
He will get him back to the vet within the next day or two.
I did wonder if it could be Insulinoma but I'm no expert at all on ferrets.
Thank you kindly for our help.

Lisa x

[josaphine32]

If the vets seem to think its a tumour it could well be, most of mine have died due to cancers, you can give them steroids (Prednisalone) which worked really well with ours, Unfortunately we did do chemo on one ferret, Never again,
x rays are really expensive and usually envolves sedation, phobe's cancer was picked up with an ultraound, quater of the price, and no sedation, X

[divegirl]

I'll let him know that. Thanks again you've been a great help!

[josaphine32]

If he's gone off the biscuits, One of mine has an incurable virus, and will not touch kibble. £800.00 later with tests still no diagnoses, We feed ours on raw chicken, mince, raw egg yolk (Not the white) with ferret vitamins added in, ferret tone is brilliant for encouraging them to eat, you can also give them Cat food, pouches, baby food, Yes baby food, royal canine convalescence, and royal canin a/d ours are spoilt rotten. Do not give dog food.x

[wolf63]

I don't have a ferret and have never actually seen one. Heard good things about them though.

Why no dog food?

[josaphine32]

Don't quote me on this, But I think it's because ferrets need at least 40% protein in the diet, and because cats are kind of true carnivours, there food contains more meat, dogs are carnivours but will eat just about anything, dog food is made up of alot of other stuff that ferrets just can't digest, ferrets have a very short digestive track, Ratter 15 is really good on Ferret stuff as he had 50 at one time and used to judge them, My answer may be wrong but he will give you a good answer.

[wolf63]

I know that dogs eat anything (apart from the toxic stuff) and that cats have to eat mainly meat/protein. I had never given ferrets any thought before.

I hope that the Thai ferret is okay.